A two stage invited
competition to design a new Festival Hall facility in the
center of Bonn. The program called for a 1500 seat Concert Hall and a 500 seat
Recital/ Rehearsal Hall to house the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra, as well as
visiting performers and public events.

The historic riverfront location calls for an engaging public
landmark, which takes the form of the expressive Concert Hall volume. The expansive
park connecting the site with the city provides the ideal setting for the
smaller Recital Hall. The park itself is transformed into an urban
oasis, with a free form plan inspired by German Romantic Landscape and
Beethoven’s Lock of Hair.

As the scale of the Concert Hall is more appropriate to
space of the river, so too is the scale of the Recital Hall more appropriate to
the park. The Foyer connects the two at their public entrances, making the transition
from park to river.

The image of the new
Beethoven Festival Hall is one of a well proportioned
and expressive ensemble of its functional components. The lightness and
transparency at the building’s heart opens the Park to the riverfront below, reinforcing the connection between the city and the Rhine.